


The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway

by AdventurousLadder



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I forgot which chapter, Sing-Along, This is a callback to working hard, frozen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21534445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdventurousLadder/pseuds/AdventurousLadder
Summary: Would Paul really rather go to a Frozen sing-along than go on a date with Melissa?(Alternative Title: Someone Save This Man. He Needs Some Milk)
Relationships: Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Kudos: 34





	The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway

"Paul?" Bill entered Paul's cubicle. "Are you doing anything tonight?"

"Maybe." Paul said shutting his computer slightly. He did have plans for tonight. He was going to go on a date with Emma. But he wasn't too sure about his ideas for dinner tonight. Maybe this idea could call it off and he could have more time to think.

"Well, can you take Alice someplace with her friends." he said. "I'm really busy tonight and I just can't make it."

"Sure." Paul sighed in relief. "Where to?"

"A Frozen Sing-along."

Paul unsighed his sigh of relief.

"It's okay if you don't want to go. I'm sure I can find someone..."

"Don't worry, Bill. I can do this." he said with more fire in him than Bill saw before.

'Why does he sound so eager?' Bill thought to himself on his way out.

Paul paused his work for a second. He sighed again. He could not believe this and opened his phone. He went to call Emma.

"Howdy, Paul!" Emma said.

"Hi..." he slightly faltered. "So about tonight."

"Don't worry, babe." Emma said. "The date you've planned can't be that bad."

Paul pinched the bridge of his nose. "No," he said. "It's not that."

"Then what is it?" Emma said, clearly impatient. "Hurry up. I gotta get back to work."

"So our date is cancelled." Paul said. He could hear Emma give out the smallest gasp on the other side of the line. "I have to a Frozen sing-along with Alice and her friends."

"Oh shit." she said. "But I thought-"

"Yeah, but I kinda have a thing going with Melissa."

"Paul," Emma said seriously. "Are you cheating on me?"

"No." he paused. "This is literally about that. I told her I'd rather go to a Frozen sing-along than go on a date with her."

Emma chuckled a little. "Ha, serves you right." she said. "You gave God a suggestion. Does Melissa even know what you're doing?"

Paul turned around in his chair and saw Melissa watching him like a little kid trying their best not to interrupt their mother on the phone. "Yeah, I think she knows. But I was going to ask if you'd like to come with me?"

"Of course." she said. "I guess this could be our date."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, no problem, babe." he heard another vague voice on the other line that surprised Emma as she gave a little yelp. "I gotta get back to work. Bye!" she said and then hung up.

Paul sighed and put down his phone and tried to get back to work. But he couldn't. "I can't believe this." he said to himself ruffling his hair with his hands.

"Don't ruffle your hair too much, Paul. I don't think Emma would be attracted to Gru." Melissa said behind him. "But are you serious?"

"Yes. I'm serious." Paul said. 'She had won.' he thought to himself. "I'm sure I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't go."

"I'm sure you wouldn't have heard the end of it either way." Melissa said. "Is that how much you _don't_ want to date me?"

"Yes, it is." he said returning to his work. At this point, he was looking for anything to get his sanity back. But nothing seemed to be working.

* * *

Paul rang the doorbell at Bill's house. He was hiding his fear by hugging himself slightly.

"You scared?" Emma asked to clear the tension.

"Maybe." he said. Bill then opened the door.

"Hi, Paul." Bill said. he was sweating. "Emma." he said nodding to her.

'So I guess he is doing a lot tonight.' Paul thought to himself.

Alice and Deb were standing next to him. Alice had a little sling bag with her but all Deb seemed to have was a hat. "Hi, Uncle Paul!" Alice said.

"Um, Paul?" Bill said. "Just call me when you're done." he turned to look at his daughter. "Have fun okay?" Alice and Deb nodded. "Just call uncle Paul if you need any sort of help." Alice and Deb nodded again.

"I guess, we better get going." Emma said. "Don't wanna be late!" the girls followed her to the car leaving Bill with Paul.

"Paul," he started "I know this is a little out of your comfort zone-"

"Yes, it is." Paul could not stop himself from interrupting.

"But I swear it's only this one time." he said. "I'm really sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." Paul said.

"I know." Bill said. The man looked like he just wanted to take a nap. "I just need Alice and Deb to be safe, okay?"

"Okay." Paul said. "See you later!"

"See you later, Paul!" Bill gave him a slight smile before closing the door.

Paul walked on over to Emma's car and saw that all the girls were already bursting with excitement. He entered the car.

"So, you guys ready?" Emma asked everyone in the car.

"Yes!" everyone but Paul said.

* * *

The Frozen Sing-Along was taking place in a packed theater tonight. The high turnout was thanks to a discount for this particular showing. The theater was filled to the brim with little girls and their mothers alike leaving Paul as the only man in the room for the night. The place was set up like a concert so there were no seats and everyone had to stand up to watch the show. On the stage, there was a large screen meant for projecting the movie but there was also a little set that one could say was 'Frozen-themed'. There were little igloos and some little fake trees that have been sprayed with a little too much fake snow.

They took their places near the front so that Alice and Deb could see but Paul and Emma quickly stepped back to let more children see the show.

"Let them go to their friends." Emma said as they backed away from the girls.

"But Bill said they had to be safe." Paul tried to explain himself.

"Don't worry about them. They seem responsible." she tried to get Paul to stop fidgeting with himself by pulling down his hands. "Nice shirt." she had not really noticed the shirt he was wearing when they went to Bill's house. He was wearing a brownish sweater with a little funky pattern on it.

"Thanks." he replied.

The theater was silenced for a second when the lights went down. However, the slight sound of the Minecraft pocket edition music continued playing. Luckily, they were quickly shut off and they show could begin.

One person strode on the stage. She was wearing a dress similar to that of Anna's from the movie but different to avoid confusion. The lights went back on and Paul and Emma were simultaneously shocked.

"Shit," Emma said causing a mother to glare at her. "it's Zoey."

Paul gulped. 'Could it be?' he thought. He instinctively put a hand to his face to hide. But it was no use. He towered over everybody here. "Isn't she?"

"Yup." she said confirming his worst fears. She had been the woman to give him an absolute _performance_ after he tipped particularly well one day. He still has yet to put money in the tip jar since the incident. He did resort to just giving the money straight to Emma, however.

"I am so glad to see everyone!" Zoey said in character. "I hope you're all excited for the show..." she trailed off and pretended to think. "Are you excited?"

"Yeah!" The audience yelled.

"I don't that's excited enough." she squinted at the audience. "I guess we're not watching the movie, then." some mothers seemed to take this seriously as they glared bullets at her. But Zoey seemed to be unfazed. "So are you guys ready?"

"YEAH!!" the kids yelled.

"That's better." she said. She did a little gesture and a remote appeared in her hand as if by magic which was sure to get a few 'ooh's from the audience. "Let's watch Frozen!" she tried to hype them up a little more before pressing a button which started up the movie on the projector screen. Zoey then left the stage.

"Do you think she recognized us?" Paul asked.

"Maybe you." she said looking around cautiously. "But I don't think she's seen me yet." she went behind him. "Quick. Hide me."

"I don't think I can do that." he replied and the movie started playing.

There was no way to get out of this now.

* * *

Quite late into the sing-along, the children were somehow still interested. That seemed to surprise Paul as he slumped further and further as time went on to appear smaller.

"Stop slouching. In twelve seconds you'll end up looking like my grandma." Emma whispered behind him.

"Mhm." Paul stood up a little straighter. Unfortunately, a random middle-aged woman next to them realized that there was a man in the building.

"Hi, handsome." a mother said eyeing him like a bird of prey. "Where's your wife?"

"My wife?" Paul asked her.

"She's not here is she?" the woman said winking at him her overdone makeup made her look like she was meant to go the Little Mermaid sing-along. "You know, I love men that are just so supportive of their daughters."

Paul nodded. This was overloading his head and he did not know how else to respond.

"You should swing by my place tonight. I promise I'll show you a better time than that sorry wife of yours." she winked and slid her arm down him making him flinch in uncomfortableness.

"Actually," Emma interrupted. "I'm his wife." she pointed at herself. 

The woman scoffed and pulled out a lime green Hydroflask labeled 'mommy juice'. She drank and probably finished the beverage ~~wine~~.

"You're not his wife, honey." she said waggling a finger at Emma. "You look like a little kid."

"I'm thirty years old." she responded.

"Well, that means you," she pointed at Paul "are a pedophile!" other mothers Looked to her in fear of their children's safety. "You're into little girls like her aren't you? You don't know what it feels like to be with a real woman." she said gesturing to her 'curvy figure' which was just fat. She scoffed once more and left the two of them and her three sons alone in the theater.

Paul let out a sigh. He had been holding his breath since the woman arrived. Other mothers have started to give him looks as well so he was not having the best time in the world. "Can't we just leave?" he said quietly.

"I don't know Alice is thriving back there." she looked at Alice living her best life with Deb singing the song.

* * *

"So who do you like?" Deb asked.

"What?" Alice responded.

"Elsa or Anna? Who is better?"

"Anna." Deb gasped. "I mean, she saved people and she also saved Elsa after Elsa tried to kill her."

"But Elsa," Deb gestured. "She's Elsa, Alice. She has ice powers."

"Okay, but she is not very nice." Alice said pointing at the screen. Elsa had just shot a beam of ice into Anna's heart.

"But she's Elsa-"

"That's not a reason."

* * *

The last song went off without a hitch. No one knew the words to Fixer Upper or could read fast enough to follow the lyrics. All the little kids could do was mumble something vaguely sounding like the song.

Zoey went back on the stage and addressed the audience one last time. "So guys, I hope you had a great time!"

"Yeah!!" The children said.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Emma teased Paul. "She didn't even see us."

"Thank you all for coming and good night!" she said looking at all of the kids.

She made eye contact with the two of them.

Paul has never wanted to leave a place so badly.

People then started leaving the theater. Paul and Emma hurriedly went to Alice and Deb still passionately fightin over who the better princess was.

"Let's go home guys." Paul said pulling the two of them.

"Uncle Paul, who's better? Elsa or Anna?"

"That's unimportant right now." he said pulling the two of them out the door. He looked back to make sure that Zoey had not seen them but his worst fears have been confirmed.

She was following them.

He started walking faster and piled everyone into Emma's car in the parking lot dodging little children, their mothers, and Zoey. He shut the door and looked at Emma with fear in his eyes.

"She's following us." he said. "Please floor it."

"Alright." Emma said and looked back at the girls in the backseat giggling at a video on Alice's iPad as if their little argument never happened. "Girls, buckle up. I'm gonna drive a little faster."

* * *

Roundabouts were the best part of this little trip home. Emma seemed to turn the car into a pirate ship with how much the car was swinging around. At this point, she wasn't scared of Zoey, she was just giving Paul the fun time he should have had tonight.

They arrived at Bill's house in under fifteen minutes. The typical ride would have taken at least twenty minutes. He dropped the girls off without much hassle. Bill was nothing short of glad to see them having fun.

"How was it?" Bill asked Paul on the porch.

"It was fine." he said despite it not being fine.

"I'm sorry again, I found out you had plans today and I'm sorry I messed them up."

"It's okay." he said feeling confused. 'How would someone know he had plans for tonight?' he thought. He shook them out of his head along ith some other thoughts he had about tonight.

"Goodnight, Paul."

"Goodnight, Bill." he said returning to Emma's car.

* * *

The drive home was the quietest ride either of them had been on. Despite Paul's quieter demeanor, he was most comfortable talking to people in cars because of the lack of other sounds going on.

They reached their house and Paul sighed.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked him.

"Yeah, I'm really fine now." he said. "I just had to recharge. That was way too much."

"I could tell." she said. "You wanna get back to what we were planning?"

"It's too late for that now." he said.

Someone knocked on the window.

"Hey guys, I think you left your wallet."

Paul and Emma screamed.

"What the fuck?!" she yelled. Paul slid open the window.

"Here's your wallet. I think you left it back at the theater."

Paul wordlessly retrieved his wallet. He smiled at her and hoped from the bottom of his heart that she would leave.

"See you at work, Emma!" Zoey said with a smile as if she was still at Beanies and Emma was a customer that told her she sings bad or something like that.

"No problem." she said turning down the window.

For the first time all night, she was alone with Paul without any children, their mothers, or Zoey.

"Did she really follow us to our fucking house?!" Emma said to break the silence. "I mean, I was practically zooming on the freeway. How could she have followed us?"

The thought of Zoey in full Arendelle gown and heels bolting down the freeway entered Paul's mind. He giggled.

"What?"

"Oh nothing you'd understand." he said.

"Are you okay now, big guy?"

"Yeah, I think I am."


End file.
